America's top counterterror official says "more than a dozen" people tied to Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and other extremists have tried to infiltrate the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But they weren't caught swimming the Rio Grande from Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the Daily News in a recent interview.

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"More Canada than Mexico, to be honest with you," he said.

Chertoff talked exclusively to The News in his Gulfstream jet on a trip from Washington to New York City last week.

"It's been much more than a dozen" who tried to enter the U.S. from Canada, he said, but they were stopped for links to "a mix" of terror groups through finances, family or spy intercepts.

"Do I know they were coming in on a mission as opposed to something else? That I can't necessarily tell you," he said.

Immigration officers have detected an increasing number of Middle Easterners and South Asians illegally entering from Mexico, but they "all seem to be, at this point, refugees," he said.

Stopping Mexican illegals from entering the country is a hot political issue - with Chertoff caught in the middle. Immigration critics often claim Al Qaeda will exploit illicit pipelines.

But Chertoff insisted, "I don't see any imminent threat" of terrorists infiltrating from Mexico.

He gave a wide-ranging interview close to the fifth anniversary of the Department of Homeland Security, which President Bush created after a Democratic outcry over 9/11 failures.

Bush picked Chertoff as the department's second leader because of his resume: federal prosecutor hired by Rudy Giuliani; counsel to ex-Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) in the Whitewater probe of the Clintons; criminal division chief at the Justice Department after 9/11; U.S. appeals court judge.

Reminded of the 1990s Clinton probe, Chertoff smiled dismissively. "A long time ago," he said.

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His current job is much more vital - preventing the next attack - and he's deeply worried about Europe as a platform.

"That is in the near term what worries me the most - Europe," Chertoff said.

In the past year, he's tried to tighten checks on European visitors entering the U.S. Asked about a recent exclusive in The News on Al Qaeda training white Anglo-looking European recruits, Chertoff said, "They're looking for people who don't fit a particular image of what a terrorist looks like."

Yet many wonder why women and kids get searched in airports.

Chertoff said a disrupted 2006 Al Qaeda plot to bomb U.S.-bound jets from London - which was "comparable to a potential 9/11" - involved a mother using an infant to conceal liquid explosives.

Chertoff said a major success has been decimating Al Qaeda in Iraq. But he finds it "worrying" that Osama Bin Laden's group has regenerated in Pakistan and merged with groups in North Africa. When Al Qaeda trainer Abu Laith al-Libi was killed recently by the CIA, eight Al Qaeda franchises from Somalia, Algeria, Palestine and Iraq eulogized him.

Politically, Chertoff's worst moment was in 2005, for failing to rush to New Orleans to take charge after Hurricane Katrina. In a lengthy mea culpa, he admitted blowing it.

"There are things I could have done or said a little bit better," Chertoff said. "I was not a politician - you need to visibly and tangibly show people you care."

Proof he had learned his lesson came a few days after the interview when deadly tornadoes struck Tennessee - he was on the ground within 24 hours.